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Dear Parents & Friends, Thanks so much for such a smooth closing today and hope everyone is safe at home or well on their way to another adventure. We enjoyed having your children over the last 10 days and will look forward to having them back next year. Look for a survey to come your…
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Dear Parents & Friends, Our time is fleeting and as we just ended campfire I really hate to see this session come to an end. We will miss the campers who have been here for the last 10 days. Yesterday was such a busy day that I didn’t have time to write. Some days are…
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Dear Parents & Friends, If you didn’t see a blog up last night it was because Anne and I had time off. Mr. and Mrs. Camp Director need a bit of time off once in a while too. We were back in the saddle again today to a full day of sunshine and clear weather. …
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Dear Parents & Friends, Another warm sunny day here at camp filled by active children and staff. Mountainside was back on their mini-adventures today with MS campers going in 4 different directions to get a feel for the 4 adventures they will be able to choose from. Riverside returns tomorrow from Linville Gorge where they’ve…
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Dear Parents & Friends, We were a little tired this morning after staying up a bit later last night to watch fireworks and man, they were good. Hats off to Team Maintenance for their splendid pyro-techniques display. It was a great day following another great day here at GV. The waterfront has been a most…
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Dear Parents & Friends, Happy 4th of July (even though it’s the 6th). Our day started out quite chilly with the temperature at 59 degrees and a cool morning. Good sleeping weather. We celebrated all day long and it’s not over yet. I’m taking a break just after campfire tonight to write to you all…
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Dear Parents & Friends, It was a splendid first day here at camp today. Perfect weather, great campers, good food and a great start to C/C-1 session. Normally, Mountainside and Riverside are hard to capture since they are so mobile. We found both programs at the Climbing Wall today, one starting their mini-adventure and Riverside…
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Dear Parents & Friends, Thanks so much for such a smooth opening day and Happy 4th. We hope that you’re safe at home or at least in a place of choice where you can rest and relax. Beautiful weather this morning and afternoon as your children began their camp experience. After lunch today program got…
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Dear Parents & Friends, What a day we had today. Great last day of Session B. I can hardly believe it’s over. Just finished campfire with some great songs by staff and campers. We have some very talented people here and it was in evidence tonight as we shared with one another at friendship campfire. …
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Dear Parents & Friends, It’s the Tajar’s Birthday today which calls for celebrations. We awoke to little bit of Tajar Folly this morning with dining room tables on the front porch and inner tubes on the roof. That Tajar always gets a bit excited just before his birthday. Tu-bing or not Tu-bing, that is the…
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Dear Parents & Friends, It has been another busy day here at camp and I apologize for not putting up a news article yesterday. Some days are just too full. I was needed in the Main Camp climbing program yesterday and today and thoroughly enjoyed myself with the time I spent there. We have…
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Dear Parents and Friends, Today was Special Day at camp which we celebrate each Sunday when we’re in session. It usually revolves around a theme and this week’s theme was The World Cup. More on the actual games later. Every cabin represented a team and went around camp doing various activities that focused on the…
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Dear Parents & Friends, Thought we might start off the day with a sample of the Tajar Times. I’ll be back later tonight to provide more and hopefully video on the river from Riverside on Wed. Enjoy! To view click on pages below Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 PM Update –…
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Dear Parents & Friends, Sorry the blog is late. We had some thunder boomers late last night and we shut down the computers here at camp. Today’s pics brought lots of shots of horses from the riding ring and the ladies of riding are doing a super job down there. Lily, Alice, and Alinta are…
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Dear Parents & Friends, Sorry I’m missed the blog yesterday. I was out with Riverside on the river so I left camp just after 7 and returned last night around 9:30. I was one tired puppy and I think they were as well. We had an epic day on the river and everyone did a…
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Dear Parents and Friends, It was New Zealand Day today at camp and we started off with a Maori ceremony on the lake before breakfast. Every Tuesday is international day at camp and we celebrate the many countries of Gwynn Valley each and every week. We’ve got quite a few staff from down under and…
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Dear Parents & Friends, Greetings from GV and so glad to have you join us. I just finished meeting with our SIT’s and if you don’t know who they are at camp, allow me to describe their position. They are our 16 and 17 year olds that are Staff in Training and in an apprentice…
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Dear Parents and Friends, Opening Day was the best. Beautiful weather, great kids and smooth arrivals. Hope you all had a safe trip home. As I write I’m sure most everyone is snuggled down in their camp beds after a very full day filled the anticipation of returning to camp or coming for the first…
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Dear Parents & Friends, As we began our 75th summer of camping here at Gwynn Valley I want to thank you for sharing your children with us this past 8 days. We’ve had a wonderful session and it was evident as we held our closing for Session A this morning. It’s been a beautiful day…
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Dear Parents & Friends, It’s been a full day at camp and unfortunately the last day. We just finished our evening campfire program which is always called Friendship Campfire on the last night of camp. It’s been a great session and we celebrated that by showing many of pictures that you all have been viewing…
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Dear Parents and Friends, Did you see the colors on those tie-dyes in today’s pictures. Those are some bright bold colors. Tamara and her staff are doing a great job with the arts at camp. If you’re wondering why we don’t have as many pictures up today it’s because our power went off this evening….
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Parents and Friends, Greetings on this cool evening. We had a couple of showers that helped with the heat today and being in a cool place like the Mill was definitely a bonus. The Mill is an extension of our Farm Program and was actually the very first type of activity on that site before…
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Thought you all might like to see a copy of the Tajar Times for Sunday! to view click on pages below Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4
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Dear Parents & Friends, We finished up our day with a dance at campfire followed by some Tajar Tales. Winnie, Head Counselor on Hillside lead us in several dances tonight, including one from his native Holland. Winnie has been teaching international dance for many years. Between his dance calling and Debbie’s piano they were a…
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June 12, 2010 The magic of camp has begun in our first full day of Session A. I just left campfire and the finale to our introduction skits. Camp is now quiet and is well on its way to sleep as we had some great times today. It was our first full day of program…
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Parents & Friends, What a great opening day here at Gwynn Valley. Parents and campers arrived this morning after long drives and eager smiles. Everyone settled into their cabins and then off to lunch for a wonderful buffet of good food from our Kitchen. After lunch it was off to the lodge for a bit…
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January 14, 2010 by Grant Bullard |
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There’s a new addition to Gwynn Valley in form of a 4 legged friend. Her name is Sophie and she’ll be here this summer when you arrive.
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It’s another very cold day here at camp but compared to other parts of the nation we might even be having a heat wave. I love the cold weather and all of our leftover snow here at camp (see pics from earlier news). The weekend before the holidays brought 8 inches of snow that has…
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December 21, 2009 by Grant Bullard |
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“Season’s Best” We got our first snow fall this past Friday Dec. 18th. Here at camp we got a little over 8 inches of the white stuff. As I sit in my office the ground is still covered and the snow shows no signs of going anywhere. My guess is that our mountains will show…
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December 15, 2009 by Grant Bullard |
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We have just mailed our camp newsletter, the Millwheel News. If you would like to receive one via mail and/or be on our mailing list for future mailings, please contact us. You can view the PDF file here: Millwheel News PDF
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October 14, 2009 by Grant Bullard |
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Water has been falling from the sky since mid September and it feels like it’s a tropical rain forest here at Gwynn Valley in western North Carolina. The temps will fall tomorrow night and we’ll have some high 30’s in the evening over the weekend. As those temps fall over the next few days let’s…
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Fall is officially here in our western North Carolina mountains. I’m never glad to see summer pass because I love the warm weather. It always takes me several days to get used to wearing long pants and jackets. The other night I found myself at a soccer game and feeling like I needed to be…
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September 24, 2009 by Grant Bullard |
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On Monday, Tues. and Wed. of this week four of us attended the Southeast American Camping Assoc. Conference in Hilton Head, SC. It was hard to stay focused on the meeting content in such a tough venue but the three days were packed with speakers and sessions that provided fodder for the future here at…
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September 11, 2009 by Grant Bullard |
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For those of you that were here this summer when the piglets were born, you may remember that Hamish the pig was the lone survivor. He received a good deal of attention from campers as well as his other mom, Arrington, who worked down at the farm. Hamish is still around the farm and he’s…
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Dear Parents & Friends, Anne, the kids and I just returned Monday from a relaxing week at the beach and we’re setting the stage to crank up for the new year here at Gwynn Valley. Thanks so much for sharing your children with us this summer. Each session brought all the joy that comes with…
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Video of E Session Farm. We’ve had a great summer and hope to see you all next year, our 75th year here at Gwynn Valley.
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Dear Parents & Friends, A beautiful but hot day here at GV. We just finished up our intro skits at campfire and everyone is back in their cabin and getting ready for the sandman. Riverside took off this morning and I made their cabin photo just before they pulled out to tackle a…
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This is footage taken of Main Camp at the end of C Session. Two different groups went out that day. Bikers went in the morning and Paddlers went out that afternoon. The Bikers went on two different trails, up Jim Branch and down Ridgeline which is a great downhill. The Paddlers went on the French…
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Our UK staff prepared a fun-filled day with skits, songs, and activities galore! Every Tuesday is international day here at camp where staff from each celebrated country give the children a taste of their culture and what life is like in their country.
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Raines Coves boys wrote a song for Vespers last night. Hope you enjoy!
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Parents & Friends, This is video taken two days ago on the French Broad and also at Dupont State Park. Our Main Camp campers were involved in trips that day and we had a group of canoers and kayakers go out that day as well as a group of mountain bikers that afternoon. Everyone…
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Dear Parents & Friends, It’s been a great day at camp and we just finished campfire with Brookside. We’ve finished up our Discovery week today. Tomorrow is “special day” and we’ll keep you posted on that. Tomorrow is also a free day from program when our activity heads take time off. Tonight at campfire…
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Our first day of camp is two days away. If you are a new camper family we welcome you. If you are a returning camper family welcome back and hope you enjoy the pictures and day to day updates from Gwynn Valley. To log on and look at photos just click log in on the…
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Everywhere you look staff are working and getting ready for the coming summer. We’ve had a core group of staff here for the past couple of weeks to assist as we wind the Gwynn Valley Wheel to start things up. It’s ironic that we have the waterwheel as our symbol and just the other…
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As I was coming to work this morning I heard an old song that probably none of you campers have ever heard or even heard of the group – The Moody Blues. Some of your parents may remember them. The song that was playing was called “Lovely to See You”, and soon we will be…
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Can you believe it’s May already. As I walked through camp and up to the dining room this morning, I realized how green and beautiful camp looked but something was missing….. campers and staff! It’s just around the corner until you begin to arrive and just over a month before we have our first campers…
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Welcome to Gwynn Valley’s new and improved website. I hope you’ll find that it really speaks to our reputation as a great camp for boys and girls located here in Brevard, NC. Change is good and we’re very excited about the changes to this new addition that reaches out across the globe to families and…
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Every magazine under the sun has published a “Green” issue. Let’s hope that all those magazines are getting recycled. Through the years Gwynn Valley has been quietly moving in this direction. I say quietly because we’ve really not promoted our movement in lessening our environmental impact of running a camp. As I began to think…
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October 30, 2008 by Grant Bullard |
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The 2008 and 2009 Promotional Shows & Travel Schedule are now online. Come out and join us at one of our shows or come join us at one of our camper fairs that may be in your area. Don’t forget to bring a friend!
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October 17, 2008 by Grant Bullard |
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Dear Friends, It is truly fall here in our mountains. We had a wonderful 2008 season at Gwynn Valley and are busy getting ready for campers who will be returning for another magical summer in 2009. We’re in the midst of our promotional shows and travel schedule which is listed above. We’re also busy getting…
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December 19, 2007 by Grant Bullard |
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Seasons Greetings and Happy New Year! As we get farther into this festive season and approach the beginning of the new year, I’m reminded of all the great memories that are like little gifts that come forth from the summer. Many of you may have received our Millwheel News by now along with countless cards…
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By now many of you have started back to school and are into your routine at home. We miss the sounds of your laughter and joy here at camp. Camp is a different place during the seasons when you are not here. It’s a foggy morning here at camp and believe it or not we’ve…
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January 12, 2007 by Grant Bullard |
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Hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday Season and is enjoying the beginning to the new year. This is travel time for us as we continue our camper promotion and kick off staff recruitment as well. Come out and join us at one of our shows or come join us at one of our camper fairs…
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